Rail-joint.



'No. 723,861. PATENTED MAR. 31, 1903. G. ELL;

RA INT.

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WIE 55 155. A lip/BT13? PATENT-ED MAR. 31, 1903.

G. GODSELL.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION 1-11.31) oqmzo, 1902.

2 BKEBT8SHEET 2.

\ N0 MODEL.

UNITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE GODSELL, OF HEREFORD, ENGLAND.

RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFIQATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 723,861, dated March. 31, 1903.

Application filed October 20, 1902.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE GODSELL, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 12 Victoria street, Hereford, in the county of Hereford, England, have invented a newand usefulImprovementin Rail-Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to rail-joints; and'my object is to provide a rail-joint which does not need fish-plates or bolts and which shall when the parts are assembled remain firm and solid, a wooden key being usedlto maintain the parts in relative position. The end of one rail has a projecting tongue and a shouldered head on its end and the adjacent end of the other rail has a corresponding recess. In use the adjacent ends are fitted together and rest in a chair, and when the wood key is driven tightly home the joint is secure,

all as hereinafter described, and shown in the V drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation. Fig. 3 is a section as on line a: no of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a side elevation.

Like numerals refer to corresponding parts in all the figures.

1 is the chair, adapted to be fastened down to a sleeper in usual manner, as by spikes 2.

3 is the end of one rail, which has a tongue 4, and 5 is the adjacent end of the next rail, having a recess which corresponds in shape with tongue 4. The latter has a head 6, the front edge 7 whereof is sloping toward the other rail '5, so that when the parts are assembled said sloping front by engaging with the sloping back of the recess in rail 5 prevents relative vertical motion. The head 6 has also a shoulder or set-off 8, and this serves also to make the joint secure longitudinally.

9 is a wood key which overlaps the adjacent ends 10 of the rails. In laying these rails theend of rail 5 is first placed in the chair 1 and the other rail 3 lowered into position afterward. The key 9 is then driven Serial No. 128,051. (No model.)

home, thus making a firm tight joint. In practice one end of each rail willhave atongue and the other end a groove.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure'by Letters Patent of the United States, is-.

1. Ina rail-joint the combination of a rail,

'a central tongue projecting therefrom and having a head at its extremity whose front and back are beveled downward in a forward direction, a second rail having a recess with which said tongue is adapted to mesh and the end whereof is sloped backward so as to engage the end of said tongue, and having also a shoulder sloped backward to mesh with the rear of said tongue-head, a chair to support the adjacent ends of the rails and a key to maintain the parts in relative position, substantially as described.

2. A rail having at one end a tongue the head whereof is enlarged and tapered as regards plan view and forwardly slopingas regards side view, and adapted to entera correspondingrec'ess in another rail; and at the other end a recess corresponding in shape to the head,-whereby when a series of said rails are joined end to end the tongues on one end will mesh with recesses in the adjacent ends of other, rails, and vice versa, substantially as p described.

3. In arail-joint in combination with means for supporting and keying the rails in position, a tongue-and-groove joint between said rails, the tongue whereof terminates in a tapered head having a beveled end and beveled shoulders, substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof'I have hereunto signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE GO DSELL.

Witnesses:

E. N. LANGFORD, R. N. H. WORKMAN. 

